NDU non-teaching staff burn CM’s effigy, demand wage hike

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 18

The 15-day pen-down strike called by the GNDU Non-Teaching Employees Union on Tuesday took an agitated turn when the protestors burnt an effigy of the Chief Minister in front of the varsity’s administrative block. The non-teaching employees have been observing a strike since August 5 against the state government’s backtracking on election promises.

“The employees have been on pen-down strike since August 5 for two hours everyday. The government had promised to consider our demand to reconsider wages and also provide us benefits under government welfare schemes. But despite our consistent call for consideration, we have been neglected and ignored. Our demands stand where they were since 2017 and the government is making excuses by saying that lack of funds is keeping them from implementing wage rise when lack of intent is the real reason,” said Hardeep Singh Nagra, president, GNDU Non-Teaching Employees Union.

The non-teaching employees unions across the state are staging protests against the government to raise their demands. Meanwhile, the employees have been wearing black bands and suspending all administrative activities for two hours everyday from 9 am to 11 am as a mark of protest.

In a decision before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the state government had issued directions to Panjab University, Chandigarh, Punjabi University, Patiala, and GNDU, Amritsar, to stop the irregular secretariat allowance to the staff or face cuts in grants. The protesting members alleged that the government’s decision was an attempt to put financial burden on the already deprived non-teaching staff. The GNDU non-teaching staff had long been raising demands of revising pay scales as per the Seventh Pay Commission, releasing a minimum percentage of the DA amount the state exchequer owes them for the past three years and take back the decision on irregular secretariat pay allowance, which as per the state, is only given to clerical staff of Punjab Secretariat.